We handle cases nationwide.

June

Blog Posts in June, 2016

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that Federal Employees requesting reasonable accommodation be "Qualified" to do their jobs before entitlement to a reasonable accommodation. What does it mean to be a Qualified Employee under the ADA? Practically it means that an employee must be able to do the essential functions of their job with or without an accommodation. For example, we recently had a ...

I enjoy representing Federal Employees with their requests for medical reasonable accommodations because this is an area of law where an attorney can make a real difference in someone’s life. Federal Employees who are suffering from a substantial impairment of their major life activities are entitled to receive an effective accommodation that allows them to perform the essential functions of their ...

As mentioned in a previous blog Federal Agencies need to go to quite an extent to take care of their disabled employees who need accommodation. One of the first cases I handled many years back involved a Center Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) employee who suffered from a debilitating medical condition that required him to stay out of direct sunlight as much as possible. My client worked in a brand new ...

It is not difficult for a federal employee to prove that they have been diagnosed with a particular medical condition - all it takes is for their doctor to provide a simple letter of certification and apply a signature to this assertion. Including medical evidence in the form of diagnostic testing reports is certainly helpful and sometimes necessary, but will will likely not be the key to securing ...

It seems to make perfect sense. A three-inch high stack of medical documentation should be more convincing to the OPM Disability Retirement examiner than just 20 pages of diagnostic testing and hospitalization discharge reports, right? The answer is, not necessarily. Picture the OPM examiner analyzing your OPM Disability Retirement package next to her 50 other applications due that month. When ...

A federal employee’s medical condition is often the direct cause of termination and removal from the job, however your federal agency just as often neglects to mention the real reason, and delineates the cause as “excessive absenteeism” or other such justification. The best-case scenario would, of course, be for the agency to state the real underlying cause, which would entitle the employee to ...

You may wonder if it is in your best interest to accept an offer by your Agency for a light duty assignment. You plan on applying for OPM Disability Retirement, or may actually be in the process of doing so, and are concerned that OPM may view your acceptance of light duty as effectively being accommodated or reassigned. The truth is that generally it is perfectly fine to go ahead and accept the ...

You definitely can be open to supplementing your FERS annuities with a job in the private sector, as long as you keep two important points in mind: 1) Your annual income from the job must be less than 80% of the current rate of basic pay for the position from which you retired. If your income exceeds this amount, OPM would understand that you have been reinstated to earning capacity, and this ...

Financial stress most often presses a federal employee who is disabled for his/her position description to scramble for some sort of income during the application process for OPM Federal Employee Disability Retirement. It is certainly difficult to survive without a steady source of income, but refusing the opportunity may just be your best bet. Once you are approved for OPM Disability Retirement, ...

At The Law Offices of Eric L. Pines, PLLC, we understand that our clients are anxious to submit their applications so that they can be assured financial stability as they face a reality where their disabilities prevent them from performing their job description. Speed is obviously a virtue in this arena, however even more paramount is precision and attention to detail. Our OPM specialists do their ...

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.